The Dragon and The Fire Sprite
by SuperFreak3
Summary: okay, New name, same auther...Ginny is taking a stand for herself, and Malfoy is trying to figure things out, about him and her. *Cutting*
1. Default Chapter

The Dragon and The Fire Sprite

**Disclaimer: **yeah, I own nothing, just my plot. 

**A/N: **I'm not too sure how this story will come out, so all you readers out there, just stick with me. Usually I write more humorous stuff, but I was felt that I needed a change of pace, so I decided to write this. Note; this story does contain cutting; that is what it basically revolves around. So, if you can't handle a little blood, I advise you not to read this. And if you do read this and don't like it I warned you, so if you are going to flame me or criticize me, at least to it constructively, please. Well I guess you'll want to be getting on to the story now. Hope you enjoy!

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            Virginia Weasley had been ignored all her life; in some aspects it was a good thing, she lived her life the way she wanted to, no one told her what to do. But in other aspects, being alone was one of the most horrible feelings. And that's how Ginny felt all the time; empty, like there was a hole in her soul that had never been filled. Over the years the loneliness can eat away at you, tearing you apart, Ginny knew this feeling all to well. She would be starting her 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the beginning of the next month, and she had never had any real friends. Sure there were her dorm mates who called themselves her friends, but she could never really count on them. Mainly they just used her, she did their homework for them while they went on their dates…after all, she was the smart one and by doing their homework, they could "learn off of her notes". 

So basically Ginny was a loner, she had no one, at all, her brothers didn't even care, well maybe Charlie cared, he always was her favorite, but Charlie was long gone, in Romania, with his dragons. Then Fred and George weren't that bad either, they had always tried to cheer her up when she felt bad…even though they might not have used the greatest methods. Ron was more like a typical brother though, he didn't want her hanging around him that much, especially when he was with Harry and Hermione. She supposed that Hermione was the closest thing she had to a real friend, they didn't talk to much, but Ginny knew that if she wanted to talk, Hermione would be there. And damn that Harry, so she had a crush on him for a couple of years, but it was over now! But noooo, Harry didn't seem to get this, he still thought she was madly in love with him, and his big head wouldn't ever get past that. How she hated him sometimes…

So as Ginny sat there in her room, writing in her journal, the rain falling outside her window, she sort of sank into a depression that would just progress as the year went on…

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September rolled around and School was fast approaching; on the day the Weasleys left, it was a smaller crowd then usual; sure Hermione and Harry were there, but now there were only two Weasleys, Fred and George's final year was last year, and now it was only Ron and Ginny. So Mr. and Mrs. Weasley drove the kids to the station and walked with them onto Platform 9 and ¾. After saying their farewells, Ginny boarded the train, and searched for an empty compartment; not knowing that the year ahead of her would be her worst and her best year ever at Hogwarts.       

Ginny found a compartment towards the end of the train that was empty and sat down on one of the long seats. She leaned against the window and before she knew it, the rocking of the train had put her to sleep. She was in the middle of an odd dream with dancing fairies when a cold, icy voice woke her rudely. 

"What have we here?" sneered Draco Malfoy, "If it isn't the Weasley baby."

Glaring at him in hatred Ginny marveled at how someone so fowl and loathsome could be blessed with such good looks… '_whoa, snap out of it Gin, this is Malfoy we're talking about here_' she thought to herself. 

"Shut up Malfoy, I don't believe you were invited, so why don't you run off to your fan club, of those drooling Slytherin dogs you always have hanging over you," retorted Ginny, matching the sneer on his face with her own.

"Touchy, touchy, we are going to have to do something about that temper Weasel, besides I don't see your name on this car, so it's just as much mine as it is yours."

"You know, Draco," she spat out with disgust, "being the biggest prick in the school, one would think that you would have better insults, but it seems that you stopped "maturing" after first year, and that you're still stuck in your 12 year old mind."

"You'll pay for your tounge, Weasel," replied Draco, drawing his wand.

But Ginny was to fast for him, she had carefully hidden her own wand in her overly large sleeve and quickly yelled, "Expellarmis. Draco's wand flew from his hand and the sneer on his faced was replaced by surprise. 'So, this Weasel is not like the rest of them, why she's got a temper to rival mine and she's pretty quick with the wand. Finally, he thought, 'a challenge.'

"Well look who's got the upper hand now, Draco" said Ginny holding a wand in each hand. Why don't I put this somewhere for you to find it, I love searching games, don't you Drakkie Boy?" the sarcasm was practically dripping from her voice. Ginny muttered a spell in her head and his wand disappeared. 

All of the sudden, Malfoy lunged at her, but was halted by her Petrificus Totalus spell, his hands only inches from her face.

"Tsk, Tsk, Draco, haven't you gotten yourself into enough trouble for one day? Remember, only one of us has a wand here, and she's not the one in the full body bind. Better go find your wand, I expect we'll be arriving at the school soon." 

She muttered the counter-curse and he fell to the floor, his face flushed red. _'How could I have been beaten by a girl, a Weasley none the less?!'_ he thought, disgusted with himself. He got up, the sneer on his face even more present than before.

"I will seek revenge you little Weasel, and be warned, a Malfoy as your enemy is as bad as having Death as your next door neighbor. No one will hear about this, do you hear me? Or you will rue the day you were born." 

_'Death as your next door neighbor??? What kind of lame threat is that Malfoy?_ Draco questioned himself as he stormed out of the compartment. _Maybe the little Weasel was right, maybe my insults are slipping…well we'll have to fix that. There is no way a Weasley will beat me at insults.'_

_'Yeah, as though I already don't'_, Ginny said to herself, replying to the last remark Malfoy had said before he stormed off, not realizing that Ginny had turned his hair a violent shade of hot pink before he had gone. 

When did my life become so depressed? No friends, the only thing I have to "talk" to is my journal, and this one can't even talk back, she thought. Ginny remembered back to her first year, when she had Tom Riddles diary… he talked to me…but then again he was just using me too, like everyone else in my life. Thanks to that whole episode, I have no friends. People see me in the hallways and stay away from me, they think I'm some kind of freak sideshow…BEWARE! RARE DANGEROUS REDHEAD HAS BEEN KNOWN TO ATTEMPT MURDER! STAY AWAY! DO NOT FEED THE FREAK. Yeah, like I did it on purpose, people don't care, they get sucked into what the media says and it distort the truth so much that they refuse to listen to the real story. Damn that Riddle, he's made my life Hell... 

As the train pulled into the station Ginny gathered her things and walked up to find her brother and his friends. As she walked through the other compartments she heard laughter and whispers about Draco's new hairdo. _Well_, she thought, _at least I'm not totally defenseless like everyone seems to believe_. She got off the train and walked to the carriages. This is going to be one long year, she thought as she sat down by Hermione- one very long year.

That night at The Sorting feast, Ginny picked at her food, she wasn't very hungry, besides, she had the odd sensation that someone was watching her… She looked around at the Great Hall searching for the eyes that were staring at her with a cold, icy contempt. As she rounded on Slytherin, she saw who it was. Malfoy was glaring at her with a look of utter hatred on his face, sending small shivers of fear down her spine. But Ginny didn't let her slight fear show through, she glared just as evilly right back at him. It seemed he had found is wand, though, because his hair was it's normal platinum blonde shade.

Looking back on the incident in the train car, Ginny thought that it might not have been the greatest idea to have messed with Malfoy…after all, he wouldn't let her get away with what she did, Malfoys always get revenge_. No_, she thought angrily, _all the years I have looked down on myself and taken things as they were thrown at me! It's time I show that I do have a backbone, and I can stick up for myself. No more letting Malfoy take the upper hand. Malfoy make be taking revenge for my actions earlier today, but I'm taking revenge for the past 5 years of my life! _

And with that Ginny got up from the table and left the Great Hall for the privacy of her dorm; after all, she was a prefect so she had her own room. As she sat down on her bed after getting on her PJs, she thought of how Malfoy had looked at her earlier…sure, his glare was practically overflowing with contempt, but there was something else, past that. Was it curiosity? _Oh well_, she shrugged as she pulled the covers over herself_, it's just Malfoy, I already showed him that I wasn't going to take his crap anymore- what damage could he do?_

If only she knew…

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            At the beginning of the week Ginny had felt that she had started off with the upper hand, but as the week progressed she felt that she had been dealt to many bad cards to deal with; first of all, she had two of her classes with Draco Malfoy:  Double Potions on Tuesday, and double Transfiguration on Thursday (she had been moved up in these classes a year because of her outstanding grades). It wasn't her luck either, that Snape was feeling extra malevolent that day and decided to pair her with her bestest best friend, Malfoy. She also had other accelerated private classes and found that she got almost twice as much work as the rest of her peers. Then on Wednesday she ran into Malfoy in the hallway…no, literally. The fact that he practically ran into her path didn't exactly help the situation much…and it resulted in her falling down the stairs on top of Harry Potter. To her dismay and everybody else's amusement he caught her rather heroically and carried her practically kicking and screaming all the way to the infirmary just in case "she had broken something".  

By the end of the week, Ginny was feeling quite depressed, then when she was on her way back to the common room to drop off her bag before dinner when she had an encounter with Malfoy. He passed her on the way down to the dungeons and when he walked by she heard him mutter something…not a second later she heard her overflowing bag ripping and felt it lightening quite rapidly. As she looked down to her papers scattered all over the floor Malfoy said with his trademark sneer dancing all over his face-

"Oops! My fault _Virginia _here let me help you with those…" and with that he kicked her papers off of the balcony and down into the unimaginable depths of Hogwarts. Luckily, Ginny wasn't taking accelerated classes for nothing…

"Reversellus Actionius!" she shouted pointing at Malfoy. Suddenly it was as though she was watching a movie being rewound and all of her papers came flying back up the stairs and into her now magically indestructible book bag. And with that she stormed off to the Common Room with Malfoy looking after her in awe and ever growing anger. _Damn Weasley beat me again! Well at least only a few first years saw…and after I knock some obedience into them, they won't remember a thing…_

            Ginny stormed up to her room and threw her bag down onto the bed and tried to recompose herself, finding that hard because she was close to tears. She had been so stressed out and the last thing that she needed was to have Malfoy after her. Man did she hate him! But she couldn't let him know that, so she took a deep breath and headed down to the Great Hall for dinner, trying to look as normal as possible. _At least there is a trip to Hogsmead this weekend, _she thought_, maybe that'll cheer me up…_


	2. TDATFS chap 2

**Disclaimer**: and again, only my plot, do I own.

**A/N**: all right, here we go, second chapter…hmm, I really have no idea where I'm going with this story, but I hope it's good. It'll get more angsty as it goes on, though. Um, if anyone has any suggestions about the plot or my writing style, I am extremely open to them, so feel free to tell me where you think this story should go. Well here you go! I hope you enjoy! {:o)

            So that weekend rolled around and as she headed toward Hogsmead, Ginny was feeling slightly better. She loved it outside in the warm sun, feeling the fall breeze playing with her red and gold hair. Ginny was a loner, as you might have guessed; she wasn't the outgoing type and focused a lot on her schoolwork, saying to herself that she didn't have time for friends. But she knew she was lonely- being a teenage girl with no close friends was hard, but she tried not to let her loneliness overcome her as it did so many late nights in her bedroom.

 As she walked through the village, Ginny spotted a metal works shop, with beautiful minature iron carvings and various other things. She walked into the store and noticed that they also had an extensive collection of knives. Small knives with intricately carved handles made of different types of wood, large knives with harsh jagged edges and thick, cold handles. Ginny walked by a shelf with some of the smaller knives, and saw one with a figure of a fire sprite that made up the majority of the handle. It had delicately carved red, orange and gold hair that whipped about her face and sparkled in the sunlight, her eyes were yellow gems inset into the wood, and her short translucent red dress played at her calves and felt as though it was made with real silk. Ginny ran her fingers lightly over the knife, turned it around in her hand. On the back was a tiny inscription, which Ginny wouldn't have seen if she hadn't been totally mesmerized by the enchanting knife. In elegant miniscule letters along the back of the sprites legs there was carved a short phrase that was in French. It read:

votre Coeur est votre feu- 

Votre amour est ton desir

Ginny was learning French in her Study of Modern World Culture; Comparing Muggles to Wizards class. Ginny wanted to be an international translator for the Muggle Relations Council once she passed from Hogwarts and the World Culture was one of the extra course classes she was taking. She easily translated the inscription and in English it read:  _Your heart is your fire, your love is your desire_. 

Ginny had instantly fallen in love with the knife and felt that she was somehow drawn to it; connected to it in some way. So she carried over to the merchandiser, an elderly witch who looked like she belonged in a children's book as the perfect grandmother. Ginny set the knife gently onto the counter, and looked up at the woman. Old though she might have been, the witch's eyes were full of light and strength and understanding. Somehow Ginny felt as though she knew this woman, but shook the feeling off as she reached into her pocket to bring out her small purse. She had been saving up for a while, not sure what for, but as soon as she saw the knife she felt she needed it, as though it had belonged to her from the very beginning when it was still a young tree. She felt as though she had to have the knife, what for though she wasn't sure. 

"How much do you want for this knife?" the shy sixteen year old, tentatively, as though she was sure the knife would be way too expensive for her. 

The old woman looked the girl over from her red hair, to her bright, yet sad green eyes, to her tattered cloak. By the state of her clothes, the woman guessed that the girl didn't have much money, so she lowered the price from  20 Galleons (after all the knife was hand made by a well known French woodcarver) down to 11. 

"Eleven Galleons," said the witch, her voice equally as kind as her eyes.

Ginny's eyes widened, she had only 8 galleons and 12 sickles. 

"7 galleons," countered Ginny, trying to lower the price.

"9" was the reply.

"8 galleons and 12 sickles- please, that's all I have." said Ginny in her last attempt.

"Alright, I guess that will be my good deed for the day," sighed the lady in mock defeat, but with a twinkle in her eyes, not at all unlike Dumbledor's. She smiled down at the petite girl as she wrapped the knife up in delicate red silk that matched the sprites dress and laid it into a wooden box with intricate carvings on it. Putting it into a bag, she handed it to Ginny, who smiled up at her. 

"Thank you very much Ms.-?"

"Mrs. DeLaClaire," replied the aged witch, "and you're quite welcome. Maybe I'll see you again sometime."

"Goodbye," said Ginny as she walked through the door, her step lighter as well as her pocket. For some reason, the purchase of the knife made Ginny happier, she didn't even know why she bought it, she just felt that she needed it. Her slightly elated spirits didn't last however; as she turned a corner she almost ran into Malfoy and his troll-like flunkies Crabbe and Goyle. 

"Oh, well if it isn't our little friend Gin. You don't mind if I call you that, do you, Gin. Or maybe Ginger would suit you better?" Draco sneered at her as Dumber and Dumbest snickered stupidly behind him. Ginny turned around and started walking away as Draco jumped in front of her.

"Hey now! Not so fast Ginger! Aren't you even going to show me what you bought?" 

With that, he snatched the bag out of Ginny's clenched fist and took out the wooden box and studied the lid. 

"Oooh, a LaCoeur. These are expensive pieces of work. Now, I fail to see how a street rat like you could manage to afford one of these" taunted Malfoy waving the box in front of her face. Just as he was about to open the box, Ginny pulled out her wand. "Accio Box" she said and the wooden box flew out of Malfoy's hand into the bag and back into Ginny's hands. 

"I thought you would have learned by now, not to mess with me Malfoy," stated Ginny coldly, "You may think you were God's gift to this planet, but I refuse to let you walk all over me like I was some kind of piece of trash you just tossed aside. Now, why don't you be a good boy and run along with your, er, friends? After all, we wouldn't want everyone to find out what really happened to your hair that night on the train, would we? I could see it now, boy wouldn't the rest of the Slytherins be mad to know that Malfoy was beaten by a Weasley, the youngest, the girl Weasley at that? Yeah, that's what I thought." 

Ginny saw a slight look of panic cross his face before it was replaced by a look of hatred that could turn a first year to ice. Frustrated with the girl, Malfoy turned around and stalked away, motioning for Crabbe and Goyle to follow.

With a slight feeling of satisfaction Ginny walked slowly back to Hogwarts. She hadn't gone into the store until late that afternoon, and now the sun was beginning to set, casting a red orange glow on her surroundings and making her hair look like it was on fire. 

Watching the girl's back retreating from the village, Malfoy looked at her angrily. Though frustrated from being defeated by a Weasley for the what? Third time in one week, he couldn't help noticing how beautiful she was when she was angry, her eyes flashed and she threw her hair back… _Whoa, slow down there Malfoy, this is a Weasley you're daydreaming about!!  _Even more disgusted with himself he told his flunkies to leave him alone and walked toward the hills. Behind a grove of trees on one of the larger hills there was a small cave with a stream running through it. He had found this place last year, and often came here when he needed to get away from things. He was feeling so stressed lately, sometimes he just wanted to be alone. At school Crabbe and Goyle hung around him constantly and when Pansy was around she clung to him like a leech. Man, did he hate them. At home, his father didn't find it to be often enough to remind him that after next year he would be joining the death eaters, so he made him start Dark Arts training. He only escaped from that now because he was at school. He would die before he became a Death Eater; he hated his name. Malfoy. He was stereotyped by everyone, but he never wanted to grow up to be like any Malfoy; either his abusive, controlling father, or his helpless drone of a mother. Thinking back to the weekend before school started, Malfoy remembered the argument his parents were having. He knew his mother didn't like the fact that Lucius was so wrapped up in the Dark Arts but she would never do anything about it. He wanted to transfer Draco to Durmstrang, but his mother didn't want him to go. Trying to argue with him was useless, and Draco heard his father beating his mother from upstairs, her painful screams echoed through the manor. Draco hated to hear her pain… He ran downstairs in a sudden rage and burst into the room his parents were in. He started hammering his father with his fists and feet but it was no use. He was only doing this in a blind rage and soon his father had him writhing in pain under the Crucaitus Curse. Draco felt this searing pain at least once a week but he never got used to it. This kind of abuse left bruises on the inside, so that no one would know by looking at him. 

As Draco sat there in front of the stream hating himself, his hand went to his knife, which was in his cloak pocket. He looked at it and saw the name LaCoeur etched into the dark handle. He thought back to Ginny and wondered what was in that box that she had. Was it also a knife? Could she be a cutter too? No. He pushed the ridiculous thought to the back of his head, thinking that innocent Virginia Weasley would never take up something like self mutilation. He went back to his own knife and thumbed the sharp blade. It was cold to his skin. He looked at the handle, at the black dragon carved into it with the ivory inset scales and it's fiery red Garnet eyes that looked back at his icy gray ones. Taking the knife in his hand he slowly brought it to his skin. Putting pressure on the blade, Draco carefully slid the knife down his arm, spiraling from his shoulder down to his wrist. Setting the knife down, he watched the blood slowly rise between the ridges his knife had created and run down his arm in small streams, falling onto the cold stone. He felt the pain gradually leave his body with the blood that he drew and he picked up his knife again. He carved small swirling designs into his arm and watched as his blood gathered into a small pool on the ground. After about five or six good cuts, he felt more relaxed and washed the blade of in the stream. Then he dipped his arm into the icy water and watched his blood slowly flow away with the current. He brought his arm out and performed a spell which made his arm instantly scab, but left the stinging pain there. He pulled his cloak back over him and left the cave. By this time the sun had set and millions of tiny stars dotted the black night canvas. He walked back up to the castle and snuck into his dorm. After getting dressed for bed he put his knife back into the box and into his dresser drawer. Draco climbed into bed and fell into his usual restless sleep.

Putting her knife into it's box and then into her dresser, Ginny then stood up and walked over to her window. She sat down in it and looked up at the countless stars that dotted the sky. Even though they looked so close to each other, Ginny knew the stars were really miles and miles away from each other. That's how she felt, she might have looked close to her family and "friends" but she was miles away… 

She got down of the window seat and went to her bed. Drawing the curtains she fell into a light sleep.

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A/N: well, there you have it, another chapter! I'm not to sure the French is okay so feel free to yell at me. Looking back on the chapter, it is relatively short, but it took me a while to write. That's the way it always is. Remember, I am open to any and all suggestions, so review as many times and as long as you want! Thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll have more updated soon!


	3. TDATFS chap 3

**Disclaimer**: I am going to grow tired of this really quick! I own nothing! Leave me alone already! Sheesh! no, just kidding! ;o) 

**A/N: **Okay, well that was fun! I was trying to upload and somewhere I screwed up and it snowballed from there…and so I got confused and just redownloaded it! phew! So now the story is called The Dragon and the Fire Sprite. Yeah, sorry if anybody was caught in the middle of that while I was figuring stuff out. I hope it's going well so far, and remember, feel free to review! Thanks again!

            The next morning Ginny woke up early; the sun was just beginning to show over the horizon. She got out of bed and put on a pair of jeans and a black quarter sleeve shirt. As she went to close the dresser drawer, she saw the wooden box that contained her knife and she took it out and pocketed it. It had been an unusually warm summer so she didn't need her cloak, so she brushed her hair, grabbed her journal and her leads and set off. Her destination was the lake; and after she stopped by the Great Hall to get some toast and strawberries she headed outside. Ginny then sat down by a tree by the lake and took out her journal and leads. She called it a journal but she really used it more for drawing and writing songs and poems. Charlie had gotten her both the journal and the leads for her birthday a year ago. He found her drawing one afternoon outside in the woods behind their house. He thought she was brilliant but respected her wish not to tell anyone about her drawings. She wanted it to remain her private, personal thing. It was her way of expressing her feelings, so calling her small sketchbook a journal was pretty accurate anyway.

            As Ginny sat there drawing the morning landscape she didn't realize that she was alone. Sitting against a different tree around a small bend in the lake was Draco Malfoy.

            He had seen her come out and remained as still as possible, he didn't want to be seen. Draco watched, intrigued by Ginny as she sat there drawing- her eyebrows knitted in concentration as her small hand moved rhythmically across the paper, pausing only to push her hair out of her face, just to have it fall back a few minutes later. He saw her look up after about five minutes and gaze out across the water, and he saw the sadness in her eyes. He also noticed, even though he still hated her, how beautiful she was. Her long, strait red and golden hair framed her small face, which was slightly spattered with freckles and accented with her large green eyes.

 She puzzled him, Ginny Weasley. She wasn't like other girls he knew. He had always thought of her as a quite little girl, one who cried whenever someone insulted her… come to think of it, before this year, that's what she did do, every time he said something to her, no, wait, last year she didn't either, she just walked away from me. But now, it seems as though she's changed. Not only did she not cry, but she actually had the nerve to counter my remarks, he thought, anger slowly building inside him, replacing his previous thoughts of her beauty. You just don't insult a Malfoy and then get away with it! 

He turned back to look at her and saw that she was now crying. Silently though, the tears falling slowly down her cheeks. He was angry at her for crying, what did she have to cry about?? He was going to get up and say something to her, but then he saw those sad eyes, and they halted him. _Damn her! Why did she have to be so innocent? I will find out why this Weasley was so different from the rest_, and with that he got up and walked back to the castle. 

Just then Ginny saw a movement out of the corner of her eye; startled she looked over and saw Malfoy getting up and walking towards the castle. Did he know I was here? He had to have known, he must have been here before me! Flushing red, Ginny looked down at her paper and saw her picture for the first time; usually while she was drawing her mind was elsewhere and her hands did the work. She didn't know how she did it, but her drawings actually came to life when she was done drawing. It was sort of like a cartoon, but more realistic. She watched as the lake in her picture, shimmered gold from the reflection of the sun, and the weeping willows waved their long flowing branches in the slight wind. This calmed her some, though she was still sad. She had been thinking about how lonely she felt and how much she wished she had someone to talk to. She got up and started walking towards the castle. She had a lot of homework that she needed to do for the next week, and was up late trying to finish it all; she had trouble concentrating on her work. 

Monday morning came and the day past pretty uneventfully. But that evening as Ginny sat down to eat dinner, or rather pick unhungrily at it, she saw Malfoy looking at her. This time however, it wasn't the death glare he usually reserved for her; no, this time it was more of a penetrating calculating look that bore deep into her eyes. She tried to shake it off but she couldn't. It was though he was trying to read her mind. After about ten minutes, she got annoyed and left the table. There was something about that look that made Ginny almost wish he would go back to his trademark glare of death. She went up to her room and did as much of her homework as she could before she fell asleep on her papers.

Ginny awoke the next morning with a start, and a pain- sleeping on one's homework does not exactly do wonders for one's neck. She looked at her clock and was alarmed (hehe get it? clock-alarmed…! I put that one in there just for you Moo!) to see that she had to be in her Double Potions class in five minutes. She hastily got dressed and shoved everything that was on her dress, into the bag. After quickly brushing her hair, she sped off to the dungeons. To her dismay she ran in to Peeves along the way. He had just finished stuffing frog guts into a suit of armor, that would explode on the first person to walk by, and was now hovering a little bit down the hallway. Unfortunately for Ginny, she happened to be that person. Boom! The force of the mini-explosion knocked Ginny backwards and into a pile of the frog parts. Now more frustrated and extremely late, she performed a quick cleaning spell on herself and rushed towards the dungeons, wondering what horrid punishments awaited her.

As she skidded into the classroom, Snape saw her and glided menacingly toward her, his black eyes flashing dangerously. 

"My, my Miss Weasley…15 minutes late- that is most unbecoming of a Prefect you know," he taunted coldly, "now let's see, 15 minutes late, so we'll start off with minus 15 points for Gryffindor, and since you're a prefect we'll times that by two, and since I expect to see better behavior from my advanced students we'll times that by two. That brings us to a total of 60 points from Gryffindor, let's see you try to make up for that one Miss Weasley!" 

            Ginny tried to subdue the stinging tears that threatened to fall from her eyes, as she sat down next to Malfoy at their cauldron. He smirked at her as he diced up night crawlers for their potions- but said nothing. She silently measured out some rat bile for their mixture, as Harry and Ron looked at her five cauldrons away.

"Say, Ginny looks like she could use some cheering up, eh Harry?" asked Ron suggestively. Hermione who was working next to them with Neville, now turned around to the two boys.

            "Oh, no you…" but she was cut off by Ron, who was now forming a plan.

            "What we need is to create a diversion- okay, Neville- put something in your potion so as to get Snape to come over here, then I'll go and set off a time release dung bomb under Malfoy's chair. Don't give me that look, Neville, you know Hermione can fix any mess you get yourself into."

            "Ron, I don't think this is a good…" but once again, Hermione was cut off by Ron.

            "Okay, here he comes! Go Neville."

            Neville replied with a nod of his pale, scared head. He dumped an odd liquid into his cauldron that turned it a sickly brown color instead of the bright red it should have been…

            "Longbottem!!!! You insufferable fool! You incompetent twit! I would have thought that when I put you with Miss Granger that you would not have been able to make any more mistakes. But, nooooo, you seemed to have proved me wrong!" and as Snape raged on Ron snuck up behind Malfoy, put the bomb under his chair and snuck back, all without anybody noticing. A few seconds after Snape had finished his tirade, Ron pulled out his wand, muttered a few choice words and the dung bomb exploded in a green nauseating gas that swirled inside the dungeon.

            Seeing as Ginny was the closest to Malfoy, Snape rounded on her. 

            "So, Miss Weasley, you think that because you are having a bad day that you can take it out on my students?!? Well I think not! That'll be another 60 points from Gryffindor and I don't want to see your face in this room until next weeks class. Now out!!" Snapped practically screamed at her. Ginny quickly gathered her things- not noticing the drawing that had fallen to the floor- it must have been shoved into her bag that morning when she was in her hurry- and almost ran out of the door. 

            Once outside the classroom, Ginny broke into a run. She didn't know where she was running to and pretty soon she was lost. She had never been in this part of the castle before. The walls were covered in beautifully illustrated tapestries and all of the doors were glass so you could see what was in them. She walked through the hallway pausing to look into the rooms. She stopped in front of a large room that had many string instruments, which she recognized to be guitars and was just about to open it when-

            "And just where do you think you're going missy?" asked a somewhat out of breath raspy voice. Ginny slowly turned around only to have her tired bloodshot eyes met with Filch's large bulging ones. Great, she thought, as though I haven't had enough idiot encounters for one day…

            "I'm sorry- I guess I got lost…I'll just be heading back now.."

            "A likely tale!" said Filch. "Wander about where you shouldn't be, out during class hours' I believe that will earn you a detention!"

            "But I" Ginny stammered, trying hard to stop the tears. 

            "There's no buts about it missy! Now, you will meet Hagrid at the Forbidden Forest tonight at eight. Now get out of my sight before I give you another detention!" Snarled Filch.

            So Ginny walked back to her dorm room and tossed her bag aside. She threw herself down on her bed but jumped up in pain two seconds later. She must have left her knife on her bed the night before and when she fell, the knife cut her arm. She looked down at the small wound and watched as the blood trickled down her arm. Initially the cut hurt, but as she watched the blood she felt more- relaxed somehow, as thought the physical pain helped to ease her emotional pain. She looked down at her knife and picked it up, examining the sharp blade. She caught the glint of the blade in the sun and lowered it so the cold metal was pressed against her skin. Slowly- her hand shaking slightly, she pressed down on the knife and brought it down her arm. Gasping slightly at the pain she waited for the blood to come- but was disappointed when only a few beads appeared where she had cut. So she cut again, but pressed harder this time, only wincing a little at the sharp pain in her arm. Ginny felt a rush as she saw the red liquid come faster and gently roll down her arm. She loved the feeling it gave her; it made her feel alive. So she cut again, and again. Pretty soon her blood and tears mixed in a small pool on the hard wooden floor she was sitting on. She set down the knife and looked at her arm which was now littered with about twenty cuts. In a slight state of shock, she got up and walked to her bathroom. Turning on the cold water she cleaned off her blade and then her arm. The cuts stopped bleeding after that and turned into long thin scabs. Ginny was grateful for the long sleeves of her robes which hid her arm well. The cloth that ran over the cuts hurt a little, but she felt that she needed the pain. She needed to remember…

A/N: phew! well now that that's over with… I think that was one of the harder parts to write…getting Ginny started. well I'm off to write chapter four!!! Review to your hearts desire! {:o)


	4. TDATFS chap 4

**Disclaimer: **Me no own anything. 

**A/N:  **Okay, back in business, I hope everything is going good so far…in the sense that you all like it and everything! Read and enjoy! {:o)

            Malfoy sat in his room mesmerized by the picture that he held in his hands. He had picked it up after it fell out of Ginny's bag a few days ago, he had forgotten about it until now when it fell out of his Potions book. It was a beautiful drawing of the morning sunrise, but it was as though it was alive, you could still see the sketch lines and the shadow smudges but the picture moved as though caught forever in that one morning. It was drawn by a lake- Malfoy recognized it as the lake behind the castle. The water's surfaced was rippled by the gentle breeze and the trees swayed their branches slightly. The colors where there but they were light, as though a white translucent screen was over the picture. In the corner of the picture on a small rock, he could see the initials G.W. So Ginny drew this? That must have been what she was doing that morning by the lake. Who would have though a little twirp like that could have such talent? He put the picture aside and crawled into bed. Tomorrow was Friday and they didn't have classes; the teachers had some sort of meeting to discuss some important teacher thing…

            Wednesday passed without incidence for Ginny and Thursday wasn't bad either. She hadn't cut herself since then, she was sort of afraid to; she felt powerful, more in control than she had ever felt, and she wasn't used to that. So her knife had stayed safely tucked away in her dresser drawer, and she tried to concentrate on her schoolwork instead. But it had been two days since she had picked up her knife and her cuts were starting to itch; it was all Ginny could do not to scratch them open. Grateful for the day off tomorrow, she climbed into bed and fell asleep.

~*~*~

            The next morning Ginny woke up early, like she did every morning when she knew she could sleep in. This always made her mad because once she was up, she couldn't go back to sleep. So she got dressed, and took her journal and leads down to the lake. Before she sat down, though, she scanned the area, to make sure she was alone. Seeing as she didn't find any Malfoys lurking about, she sat down and started to draw. It was still very early though and the sun was just barely visible through the trees, so she didn't notice that she had overlooked Malfoy who had concealed himself behind a large tree. He didn't know what made him go to the lake that morning, but he just had a feeling she would be there. Malfoy was always awake before the break of dawn; he was a restless sleeper. Ever since his father had started performing the Crucaitus Curse on him about two years ago, he hadn't been able to sleep well. Malfoy watched Ginny draw for about five minutes until his curiosity got the better of him. He got up and sneaked up behind Ginny soundlessly. 

            "So how do you do it Weasley?" 

            Ginny heard Malfoy's cold voice behind her and jumped with a start. She turned around angrily to face Draco.

            "Do what Malfoy, although I doubt whatever you are talking about is any of your business!" she spat at him. How dare he spy on her! 

            "Make them come alive?" he said, pointing to her picture. The one she was drawing was of an ocean scene; a sunset. She was only half finished with the picture so it was still a black and white, motionless sketch. 

            "Oh, I –just…" she stuttered out, not expecting his question. How did he know about her pictures? But then she realized that that had been where her lake picture had gone. Malfoy had taken it. "I don't know how to explain it, they come to life on their own when I'm done with them."

" Would you like to see?" she asked hesitantly. 

"Uh, I guess so…" He replied just as hesitantly. What was up with this random change in attitude? I thought she hated me… maybe this is some kind of cruel joke…no I don't think so, that look was too sincere… Oh well. And with that, Malfoy sat down beside her and waited for her to finish her drawing. About five minutes later she was done. The result was one of the most beautiful things Malfoy had ever seen…and he didn't exactly go around thinking everything was beautiful.

Ginny laid down her pencils and tilted her paper so that Malfoy could see it better. It was still for a few seconds and Malfoy thought for an instant that she was just fooling with him. But then, color began to sweep across the drawing; the light tan color of the sand, blues mixed with the reds, pinks, oranges and yellows reflecting from the sunset onto the foamy sea. Then it started to move. The waves gently lapped against the shore and seagulls flew in and out of the picture, diving to grab small fish out of the water. It was like a miniature silent color film. But then Malfoy realized who he was sitting next to; the girl who he had been fighting with for the past weeks that school had been going on- the girl he hated with a passion. Quickly he got up and put on his best smirk.

"That's it?" he asked trying to hide his true impression. Wiping the dirt off of his hands he started to walk back up to the castle.

"Not so fast Malfoy," sneered Ginny, making Malfoy turn around, "I attempt to put our previous arguments aside and show you something that I hold very personal, something that I have never shown anyone, and you just act like it's nothing! Well, congratulations Draco. You've succeeded in making me feel like an idiot! What was I thinking, showing my drawing to you?! Draco Malfoy! You would never understand anyway! And what made you think you have the right to spy on me?! Now you better leave before I think of a good curse, and don't even think about threatening me with your wand, you know I'm faster than you anyway. Now get out of my sight!!"

"Whoa, slow down Weasley! I'm going, I'm going! Jeez!" 

And with that he left, his cloak sweeping behind him. But what he didn't know that in his hurry to get up, his knife fell out of his pocket. Ginny saw the knife with the fierce looking black dragon carved into it and picked it up. Feeling it's weight in her hand, she took out her own knife and compared the two. Draco's knife was bigger, with a slightly larger blade, and the metal was some kind of dark steel. She thumbed the blade and pulled her hand back quickly as a small bead of blood formed on her thumb. Draco's knife was definitely sharper, and she wondered what he used it for. Feeling as though she needed someway to relieve her anger, she took his knife and brought it to her skin; pressing down she hardly felt any pain as it sliced her skin. It also cut deeper than her knife- the blood came faster and flowed longer. But afraid of being caught by someone in broad daylight she left it at that one cut.

~*~*~

             Malfoy was angry with himself for doing something so stupid as to talk civilly to a Weasley- what had gotten into him? But he was angrier at Ginny for yelling at him. Why was he so weak when it came to this girl? She wasn't big or strong or anything- she didn't even know how to stand up for herself until this year. What made her so different from the rest of his enemies_? I will beat this "weakness- just as I have over come every other obstacle thrown at me. I will get revenge_. He told himself this but he still could not forget the hurt look on her face after he had laughed at her drawing- he knew she hated herself for letting him get close to her. _But know I have the advantage _Ginger_…I'll just have to find a way to make that journal fall into my possession…_

            Ginny spent most of her day off outside, drawing mostly; but she visited Hagrid for lunch and he showed her his newest charges for his Care of Magical Creatures classes. They were fenced in from all sides in a sort of dome, and Ginny soon found out why. The creatures were small things that greatly resembled baby turtles- however, they had the ability to float when they pulled their legs in their small shells and popped what looked like miniature umbrellas out. I was quite a humorous spectacle, Ginny thought as she watched the tiny turtle gliding around inside the cage. She also noticed that they had a tendency to meow like cats. After talking to Hagrid for a while, Ginny bid him good bye and walked back to the castle. 

            She went back up to the Gryffindor common room and smiled at Hermione, Ron and Harry as she made her way up to her room. After the Potions incident Hermione had made Ron tell Ginny what had really happened. She was mad at him for a little bit, but soon she had forgiven him, she couldn't stay mad at anyone for long. That was, with the exception of Draco Malfoy. She felt that having his knife gave her a definite advantage over him. She didn't know if the knife was important to him, or what he used it for, but she knew that if she had anything of his, that he would probably go to many lengths to get it back.

            Sunday came, and since Ginny had already done all of her homework, she was bored. Her mind wandered to the hallway she had found with the glass doors. She wanted to go back, so she could explore the room with the guitars; so she climbed through the portrait hole of the common room and set off in search of the hallway. She vaguely remembered going up a flight of stairs that was next to a large picture of some severe looking man- Professor Beaker, it read under the picture. This was when she was still down in the dungeons, so that's where she headed. After about fifteen minutes Ginny had found the staircase to see a small hallway with a statue of some old wizard at the far end. Once in the hallway she didn't know what to do, she just remembered running up the stairway and being in the hallway with the doors. Maybe there's a trap door of some sort… she thought, feeling the walls carefully, in search of some button or lever. After about five minutes of looking and not finding anything, Ginny grew frustrated and went to sit down against a wall and she fell right through it. 

            Rubbing her head, Ginny sat up and looked around her, seeing that she had fallen into the place she had been looking for. Checking to make sure she was alone, Ginny got up and set off in search of the guitar room. A few seconds later she came to the door and lifted her hand to the knob; hoping it wouldn't be locked. It wasn't. She slowly opened the door entered the room. It was a large, brightly lit room with wooden floors and a high ceiling, it was also circular; Ginny assumed this was so the acoustics would be better. It somewhat resembled a small ballroom. Around the room were many guitars, different makes, different styles, different ages, there were at least a hundred. Electric and acoustic…but the electric ones didn't need cords and amps. They were powered by magic. Ginny saw one that caught her attention, it was electric, a violent shade of purple, with holes cut out of the body. She picked it up surprised at how light it was and sat down in the chair that was placed in the middle of the room. She lightly strummed her fingers against the strings, hearing the notes ringing around the room before fading away. She had seen people playing the guitar before and had been mesmerized by it- the way their hands fly over the strings and the beautiful chords that came from the instruments. She put the guitar back on its stand and circled the room, taking in the other types of guitars. Some were large and bulky, those were mainly the acoustics; there were oddly shaped ones with only four strings- some had big differences, others were subtle, you only noticed them if you were looking. Ginny was extremely interested in learning to play the guitar, and decided to check out some books on it the next time she went to the library. Leaving the room, she walked the length of the hallway, examining the other rooms, before heading back to the common room and to her warm bed.

            About a week had passed when Draco received another letter from his father:

                        Draco,

I expect you are doing well in your classes. Do not, however, forget about 

                        what is coming up at the end of this year. You will be appointed a Death Eater the 

                        evening you turn 18. I hope that even though you can not physically run through your

                        exercises that you are running through them mentally. I want you to be prepared for 

                        Lord Voldemort. I have told him many things about you, and he feels that you will be 

                        a strong addition to the group. Remember, do not show emotion in front of him, he 

                        can sense your weaknesses from miles away. Never show your emotion.

                                                                                                                                    Lucius

            Draco crumpled up the letter and tossed it into the fire. He was well aware of the fate that awaited him, but he did not want any part in it. He hated his father, and his ways; Draco never wanted to be anything like him, and certainly not a Death Eater. He didn't know what he was going to do though, his father was a powerful man, high up on Voldemort's list. 

Thinking about his ill fated future always stressed Draco out; so he looked to his knife to calm him down. Except this time, his knife wasn't there. He looked all over his room and upon not finding it anywhere, he thought about where he could have lost it. The last time he remembered having it was that morning out by the lake, when Ginny had yelled at- Ginny!!! That stupid Weasel took my knife! How dare she?!?! It is time for my revenge, and I will make her pay severely…

A/N: Yeah, I know, this chapter kind of dragged on, but I had to get those things in there somewhere, seeing as they'll play a bigger part as the story progresses… I hope you like, it will get better as it goes on, just have patience with me. {;o)


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